Beth Nakamura/The OregonianAttempts to unionize the Aurora police force -- population: two full-time officers -- have been met with resistance.

AURORA -- Relations between city leaders and police in this quiet town of antique shops and white picket fences have grown toxic over the officers' attempts to form a two-man union.

Mayor Jim Meirow says one of the two officers on the force, Scott Reilly, hasn't looked him in the eye for months. Reilly's partner, Dan Marshall, calls the mayor prideful and says he is taking their union efforts as a personal attack. Business leaders complain that the officers are issuing too many citations, giving the town a reputation as a "speed trap." The officers say the mayor might be abusing his power to protect patrons at the town's only bar, the Colony Pub, from drunken-driving arrests.

Earlier this month, more than 60 people packed the town's council session to discuss the issue. There were too many to fit into City Hall, so the crowd moved to a fire hall across the road.

Beth Nakamura/The OregonianAurora Police Officer Dan Marshall

No resolution was reached, but the feud isn't going away. With City Council elections Tuesday, residents are using the issue to hash out larger questions about the town's safety, budget and future.

Some might question whether a town with fewer than 1,000 people needs a police force at all. Founded as a Christian commune in 1856 by Dr. William Keil, a Prussian tailor turned preacher and physician, Aurora is better known today as a quaint weekend shopping destination. The biggest commotion each day comes when the Amtrak train passes through, blowing its horn but no longer stopping; the former station has become an antique lamp shop. Nobody seems to be able to remember the last major crime.

Yet last year city leaders decided to add Reilly to the department. To pay for the position, officials penciled some $50,000 in extra citations into the police budget projections. Tickets for violations such as speeding, running red lights or driving drunk will add up to $250,000 this year, making the police nearly self-sufficient.

Beth Nakamura/The OregonianAurora Police Officer Scott Reilly

Akin Blitz, a former Marion County sheriff's deputy turned lawyer who was invited to speak at the meeting, said the city has "created its own monster" by tying the budget to citations. He urged the council to get out of the police business and contract with the county for law enforcement instead.

John Steward, 30, who is running for mayor, worries that sheriff's deputies will respond more slowly and cost more than Aurora's police force. He supports the officers' union and says the city would be better off if Meirow, 50, worked with them toward a compromise.

"Jim is a bull in a china closet," Steward says. "He's not interested in sitting down and talking a situation through, it's his way or the highway."

At the council meeting, Colony Pub owners Russ and Laurie Newcomer, both 62 and of Canby, said they've heard from people who won't drive through Aurora for fear of being stopped. The Newcomers said they've lost patrons because of the officers' aggressive DUII enforcement, which they say includes following cars out of the bar's parking lot.

Others said the tickets were fair. A healthy contingent argued that the police were doing a good job and should be free to seek employment representation, questioning why the city is opposing the union.

Reilly, 34, who lives in Aurora, and Marshall, 27, who lives in neighboring Hubbard and has family in Molalla, say they love their jobs. They acknowledge that a two-person union is somewhat unusual but say the city's reaction, which they describe as "retaliatory," shows them that they made the right choice in seeking employment protection.

Beth Nakamura/The OregonianSince officers Dan Marshall and Scott Reilly faxed their union request to city council Aug. 3, the city has cracked down on officer perks. Then Mayor James Meirow fired the police chief.

The dispute flared up Aug. 3, when the officers notified the city they planned to join the Laborers' International Union of North America. On Aug. 6, Meirow assumed the duties of police liaison, ordering that all vacation and comp time requests go through him. Meirow fired Police Chief Mike Reedy on Sept. 23, two days after calling a special council session. The city contested the union, arguing that Reilly, who was first hired as an interim chief in March 2009, had continued to act as a supervisor.

Reilly has four sons and says he earns $15 an hour. His yearly salary comes to just over $31,000. Marshall has seniority and earns a few thousand more each year but remains an at-will employee. Reilly waived medical benefits in lieu of a $7,500 medical stipend; Marshall has benefits. Both have a life insurance policy of about $10,000.

Reilly estimates he's underpaid by about 25 percent, and officials in other small-town police departments concur. An officer with Reilly or Marshall's experience in similar-size Hubbard would earn about $40,000 and more than $50,000 in larger Canby.

Still, both Reilly and Marshall say the union is about gaining more job security not money.

The bottom line Meirow, 50, retired several years ago after selling JB Intermodal, the former Swan Island-based trucking company. He says he's happy to devote himself to the unpaid job of mayor.

"I'm not trying to be rude, crude or obnoxious," Meirow says, "but how are unions working out for Portland?"

Found on a recent fall morning eating fried fish and clam chowder at the Colony Pub, where he says he goes to eat or drink about twice a week, Meirow says he worries about the town's bottom line.

"Let's say I let them unionize," Meirow says. "I go through binding arbitration, because if I say no, we go to court. Now they say they want a 7 percent raise, and all their health care paid, and some special things. Are you telling me that the other five employees at City Hall won't ask for the exact same thing?"

He says the city's charter gives the City Council power over the police force, but the officers haven't been acting that way. "I am the mayor," Meirow says. "I do deserve a little bit of respect."

Meirow points to a request he made earlier this year: Stop staking out the Colony Pub. At first the officers patrolled elsewhere. Since the city contested their union, Meirow says, the police cars are often spotted parked outside the bar, waiting for prey.

"What we call a clue" On a recent Friday, Marshall drove his beat, a mile-long stretch of Oregon 99E, then parked in the Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage parking lot, scanning traffic at the town's main intersection.

He says from this vantage, where First Street hits the highway, he can't help but see cars leaving the bar's parking lot.

"When I see a car come out of there without their lights on, at 10 o'clock at night and it's dark, clearly dark," Marshall says, "I think that's what we call a clue.

"But apparently I'm supposed to go, oh, that guy just pulled out of the pub. I won't look at him. I won't stop him, because if I stop him that's going against the mayor's orders."

Meirow says his instructions to the officers were requests, not orders. And he says there is no conflict of interest in asking officers not to stake out the bar where he and other council members are known to drink.

"It's tacky," Meirow says. "You have the right to pull somebody over if they're drunk, but to try to crush somebody's business? We're a very small town. Why would you do that? If you don't want the tavern here, then tell them, but don't try to bankrupt them by chasing off their business."

Over the past two months the officers have arrested at least three drivers on DUII charges who were stopped just after leaving the bar. Oregon Liquor Control Commission spokeswoman Christie Scott said the agency is helping arrange a class on overserving for the Colony Pub's bartenders.

Interim police chief Meirow says he doesn't plan to tear down the police force, he just wishes everything would "go back to the way it was before."

Two weeks ago, the city hired former Clackamas County Sheriff Pat Detloff as interim police chief. Meirow says his plan is to terminate Reilly's position while retaining Marshall. Blitz says that getting rid of Reilly would probably result in a wrongful termination lawsuit against the town.

The Oregon Employment Relations Board recently ruled that Reilly did not act as a supervisor and is eligible to join a union. The city can appeal but has yet to do so.

Meirow says he plans to fight the union as far as he can. But, he says, if Aurora's citizens are unhappy with him, there's a quick way to let him know.

"There's an election in November," Meirow says. "Vote the other guy in. You will do me a favor."